Ray Lowry Access All Areas

An exhibition finished last weekend that I wished I'd gone to sooner (it opened on 1st March) so I could have spread the word a little with a post here. The Saul Hay Gallery is in Castlefield, an independent art gallery in a former railway cottage by the canal, just one knocked through downstairs room. Ray Lowry, the cartoonist and artists whose work will be familiar to anyone who read NME, The Guardian, The Face or Private Eye in the 1980s. Maybe he's even better known for his drawings of The Clash, They band took him on their 1979 tour of the US, inviting him to be, as Joe Strummer put it, their war artist. He sat by the side of the stage with a sketchbook and bottle of ink, finishing the pictures back at his hotel room later. He caught them offstage too and drew out the front and back covers of London Calling. His sketches of them on stage, at soundchecks and live before American audiences, are incredible, capturing perfectly the energy and movement of Strummer, Jones and Simonon, with Topper and Mickey Gallagher behind them. The exhibition is a mixture of prints of these pictures of The Clash, some of his NME cartoons and drawings and some oil paintings from the 1970s, beautiful paintings of Manchester and Cadishead in the mid- 70s (Ray was born in Cadishead near Irlam, by the Manchester ship canal). 

I'd seen many of the pictures before but its always a pleasure to see them in the flesh. Many of the prints had already got red stickers on them, indicating they'd been sold (some for four figure price tags). What really gave me a buzz though was a table by the window on which were several of Ray's sketchbooks, available to leaf through. There were loads of preliminary sketches of The Clash, some just a few pen strokes, but all the players instantly recognisable. Flicking through the pages I got a genuine little jolt of electricity at seeing these sketches and being able to touch them (with white gloves on), the thought that these were done live by Ray Lowry, at the side of the stage as The Clash soundchecked or roared through their songs live, forty four years ago in Atlanta, Georgia and Santa Monica, Berkeley and Cleveland. 

Ray Lowry died in 2008, suddenly aged 64. His son looks after Ray's legacy and work and put this exhibition together. At the time of his death he lived in Waterfoot, one of a ribbon of small towns in the Rossendale valley, twenty miles north of Manchester. I had my first full time teaching job at a school near Waterfoot back in the 90s. The art technician was a young man called Kieron. We used to chat in the smoking staff room (a cupboard really, near the science labs). After a while he mentioned he lived next door to Ray Lowry, said that Ray was lovely, liked a pint or two, happy to talk, often giving away his sketches and drawings to anyone who showed an interest. Looking back I regret not being cheekier and that I didn't end up with a page from one of these sketchbooks (or something similar). 

This is London Calling's title track recorded live at the Tribal Stomp in Monterey, California, on 8th September 1979, war declared and battle come down. 

London Calling (Live at Monterey)